Articles in this section

How old is BKON Connect as a company?

BKON Connect was founded in late 2013 after Apple began supporting Bluetooth low energy (BLE) on the iPhone. With this change, for the first time, there was a wireless protocol that worked on both Android and iOS, which in turn, created the opportunity for short-range wireless applications accessible to most all mobile users.

We immediately brainstormed hundreds of exciting applications and adopted a vision of a world where people seamlessly engage with nearby content. Then came the iBeacon protocol, which we support in our hardware and platform, but which we find uninspiring. It silos applications into single apps, and fosters a world of one-off applications. It doesn't lend itself to a universal interface for content, and it does not scale. We searched for a better way forward.

In late 2014, Google introduced the concept of the Physical Web, and we immediately recognized a technology we could back completely. An open, universal BLE protocol promising to work on any compatible browser or client, and allowing people to “walk up and use anything” opened the path to fulfill our original vision.

Since then, we have continuously worked to develop an end-to-end Physical Web platform (hardware, search clients, apps, SDK, beacon management platform, CMS, actions management, conditional content, and metrics) to support and enhance all elements of the Physical Web. What we have made is global, secure, and private. We have introduced features many thought impossible, and thus far have filed six rounds of IP.

We are now proud to say that our platform is not only the most advanced Physical Web platform on the market, but that we have expanded it to incorporate complementary functions to make it a necessary element of any location-aware marketing program. Thank you for taking a moment to check it out.